Tom Elsenbrook knew Alvarez & Marsal had fostered the right corporate culture when one of his firm's young associates lectured him at a company happy hour about how the company was missing opportunities by not expanding into Africa.

"When a 28-year-old comes up waving her finger and lecturing her CEO about what the company needs to be doing, it doesn't get any better than that," said Elsenbrook, who serves as a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal and is the CEO of Alvarez & Marsal Business Consulting.

"That was my reward. We have a healthy disregard for bureaucracy."

Alvarez & Marsal ranked No. 2 among midsize companies on this year's Top Workplaces list, as determined by WorkplaceDynamics.

Elsenbrook believes the New York-based company, which specializes in turnaround and interim management, performance improvement and business advisory services, has been able to create a workplace that encourages such displays of open communication by hiring the right people.

When the company was founded in 1983, the two co-founders agreed they would never hire anyone, no matter how skilled, who wasn't likable.

"When we hire people, we ask ourselves if this is someone you would want to bring home to eat dinner with your wife and kids," Elsenbrook said. "And if anyone in the firm puts up a red flag, we immediately stop the recruiting process. Anyone in the firm can veto a candidate."

Elsenbrook said the company, which has about 2,400 employees including about 220 in Houston, tries to foster an environment that allows its employees - many of whom are regularly deployed to client locations - to feel like they are individual entrepreneurs.

That idea has been clearly communicated to employees.

As one employee wrote, "I am empowered to be an entrepreneur through my decision-making and bringing new ideas/cultural events to the firm."

In fact, even as a leader, Elsenbrook said he is more focused on the creation of new ideas than he is on what his employees are doing that day, largely because he believes Alvarez & Marsal employees are self-motivated to perform well.

"I don't sit around worrying about what people are doing," he said. "Everyone in this organization has a sense of anxiety about improving their performance. But we want it to be organic, not top-down."